Page 159 of Dark Love

“Breakfast it is.” Vex walks over to the fridge.

He didn’t kiss me. It would be wrong to pout like Hope did when I disappointed her, but that doesn’t make me want to do it any less.

The man in front of me pulls out an arm full of vegetables to stuff in my omelet.

He loves me. And I don’t want to spend the rest of my day worrying about how he’s going to respond to the Adonis issue. “I love you.”

Vex freezes for a moment.

“We need to talk.”

The silence is deafening as Vex stands there staring into the fridge.

Say something. Say anything. I scoot up onto the barstool in case my legs give out during this ‘discussion’.

He brings his armload to the bar, grabbing a knife and cutting board on the way. “Start discussing. But don’t think you’re getting out of eating your vegetables.”

How did I fall in love with the sweetest man ever? Instead of talking, or maybe to avoid talking, I stare at him as he chops the scallions.

“You know you need to actually speak if we’re going to have a discussion.”

“Can I just stare at you, and we can pretend we talked?”

“Dahl.”

Fine. Whatever. “So I did something stupid. Then I asked Max for help, because he’s a man like you are, to get out of it.”

The knife stops for a second. “And what did he suggest?”

I lean forward on the bar. “Max laughed. Don’t smile. It wasn’t funny.”

“What’s your problem?”

How do I even say this? “Where are we in this getting-to-know-you phase of our relationship?”

“Dahl, you’re procrastinating.”

Ugh. Maybe I am. “I like my job.”

“Good to know.” His eyes narrow.

“It’s not often people say that. And my boss is a good guy.”

Vex’s knuckles turn white, but he stays silent.

Don’t bring up the soup thing. It’ll just make this way more awkward. Stay positive. Pretend this won’t be an inquisition. “I’ve been trying to make friends at work.” That’s going mildly not terrible.

“Okay?” He moves on to cleaning the seeds out of a pepper.

“Well, every Friday night there’s a group dinner at some a different restaurant close to work. Everyone from that shift is invited… and they’re welcome to bring a guest with them.” I almost said boyfriend. That would have been bad. We haven’t even kissed. We can’t be considered boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Are you asking me to meet the people you work with?”

“Um… sort of… I guess. Only if you want to. You don’t have to. I know you have work on Friday nights—”

“Dahl.”

“Don’t feel obligated to—”

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